Some institutions may configure classes to be viewed in real time while being taught. These are called Live classes. For Instructors, teaching a class that is being live-streamed should be the same as teaching one that is being recorded, except that there may be fewer students in the classroom because they can watch remotely.

Watching a live class is nearly the same experience as a pre-recorded (or video-on-demand) class, regardless of your role. The main differences are:

• The video stream you view cannot be rewound or fast-forwarded; it happens in real time. You can show or hide the stream and mute it.
  Due to your network connection speed, your live playback may fall behind real-time events (potentially becoming out of sync). In this case, click Out Of Sync to get back in sync.
• Users can view the Live Attendance list to see who is actively viewing the Live Stream. The Live The attendance panel lists all Instructors / TAs enrolled in the Section.

If you are an instructor, remember that viewers' comments, questions, and discussion posts can be responded to in real-time during the live class / event. For this reason, you may want to have a teaching assistant, ace student, or other minion monitor the Discussions panel for participant questions or comments. They can answer them immediately in the panel or pass them on to the presenter / instructor to address during the live class. All entries and responses are retained for the class and will appear on the Discussion panel later when viewing the class recording.

Access a Live Streamed Class

1. Click Courses from the top navigation bar.
   

   Courses in the currently active term appear first, in alphabetical order.
   If you enter EchoVideo through an LMS / VLE, you may be able to skip this step as the link from your LMS / VLE typically takes you to the Class List page shown in the next step.

   
2. Click on the course tile. This opens the class list, as shown below, or you may land on the class list page through the link in your LMS / VLE.
   

   If the class is happening now, a raspberry signal icon is displayed to the left of the class name, as shown for the Currently Live Class / Lesson class in the figure below. If the class is scheduled to be live later, a gray LIVE badge appears to the left of the class name.

   
3. Click on the class row with the raspberry signal icon to enter the classroom.
   

   The Live Player opens.

   A countdown in the lower left corner displays the time until the live stream starts. When it reaches 60 seconds, a countdown will appear.

4. From the dropdown, choose whether you are joining Remotely or In Person. 
   

   The player's appearance changes based on what you select when you join.

5. Optionally, select to Automatically join when stream starts.
6. If the class has already started, click Join Session. 

The player synchronizes dual-channel live classes, similar to the sync experience for VOD, to keep the streams coming in from each channel together. The channels should generally be within 1 second of each other and will auto-correct to maintain synchronization.

Viewing live classes on mobile devices using the native browser is limited to a single channel, even if the stream is dual-channel.

Click Users, as identified in the figure below, to view attendees and / or Instructors as needed. Only registered users actively showing the Live Class will appear and anonymous users will be counted but not visible in the attendance list.

Once the limit for tracking live attendance has been reached, the attendee list will no longer update in real-time. However, the attendance count will always be accurate.

Live Classroom Player Controls

The bottom of the classroom player has a control bar with the following options:

• Exit
• LIVE
• Volume Control
• Length of Live Stream
• Layout
  
  • Featured
  • Picture In Picture
  • Featured Speaker (PIP)
  • Split - Horizontal
  • Split - Vertical
  • Grid
• Confusion Flag - This sets a confusion flag for the instructor.
• Bookmark - This creates a bookmark at the specified timestamp for you to review later.
• Settings
  
  • Quality
  • Shortcut Keys
  • Sources
  • Lock Overlays - Turned off by default. When turned on, the player bar will always remain visible, providing constant access to playback controls, volume settings, and other essential features. EchoVideo remembers your choice for all classroom player content. 
  • Share Your Feedback
• Live Stream Total Users
• Fullscreen / Exit Fullscreen
• Open / Close Sidebar

The classroom toolbar across the top also allows you to navigate out of the classroom when finished.

Join In Person

The experience differs when you join remotely versus in person. In an in-person setting, the focus shifts to participation. The class is automatically muted, the player appears smaller, and attention is directed toward class discussions and taking notes.

Join Remotely

Your experience varies depending on whether you join in person or remotely. When joining remotely, the focus is primarily on the content. The player appears larger, while class discussions and your notes take a secondary role.